Test of Survival
Every living organism has amazing capabilities to survive the realities of life, whether finding food, escaping predators or keeping toasty warm in the winter months. The following activities offer the opportunity to explore the wealth of survival traits in our native species.
Best Nests
When building a nest, many different factors will influence the suitability of a location and thus the birds' success at rearing their chicks. Ask the children to draw a map of a particular natural area, be it school grounds or woodland site. On this map encourage them to highlight certain places:-
- Any areas of open water (here the birds would be able to find plenty of insects to eat).
- Patches of shrubs and trees which produce small fruit (these are often an important food source and can include things like Rowan trees and brambles).
- Boundaries with houses (increasing the likelihood of an encounter with a cat).
- Thick hedges and bushes (excellent hiding places and relatively cosy!).
Once the children have drawn their maps, ask them to mark where they would build their nest. Encourage them to show their maps to each other and explain why they have chosen a particular spot. You may then like to explore as a group how the closeness of these four highlighted areas to the nest site would influence the survival of the chicks. Depending on the age of the group, you can also bring in such themes as 'carrying capacity', territories and competition, noting that most birdsong is to attract a mate, warn of a predator or declare a territory.
Equipment: paper, pencils.
Animal Insulation
There are several different strategies for surviving the depths of winter. More mobile creatures, most notably birds, often head for warmer regions. Many frogs have a form of anti-freeze in their blood and are able to shut down their life systems to a minimum over winter only to defrost successfully in the spring! Amazing! Often mammals find a sheltered spot (be it underground, in a hole, a cave or a compost heap) and stay holed up in a sleep-like state to avoid the chill. Many also use their fur to 'insulate' them.
In this activity we explore fur's ability to insulate, or keep warm. You will need large scraps of various materials, such as paper, kitchen towel, thin cotton fabric, fur - in fact, anything you can get your hands on! Put a kettle on to boil, and while that is warming up give each child / group of children a plastic beaker and some sellotape. Ask them to choose a material, wrap it around the pot twice, cut off any excess and secure the material firmly with the sellotape (this experiment works better if each child / group uses a different material). Ask the children to put all of their pots on a suitably isolated table and ensure that they keep back from the area while you fill each pot with boiling water. Leave the pots for half an hour or so, ensuring that the children keep well away from the table.
When you are ready to return, supply each child / group of children with a thermometer. Ask them to carefully take the temperature of the water in their beaker by leaving the thermometer in the water for a couple of minutes, removing it and noting the reading. This part of the activity requires close supervision. As a group, you can compare results and explore which coat would best enable an animal to survive the cold of winter. Did you know that reindeer fur has hollow hairs, so the air inside the hair warms up and keeps the little fellow toasty warm?
Equipment: kettle, plastic beakers, thermometers, range of material scraps, scissors, sellotape, pen and paper for results.
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